With the 60th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech on Monday, Aug. 28, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s unifying dream still offers us a path to a better future through nonviolence. His dream can help us to overcome our differences and bring our nation together. But only if we can find ways to share that dream with a new generation at a time of uncertainty for America.
A century and a half ago, states treated people as property. It took a terrible, destructive war to end the evil of slavery. Yet pervasive racism, enforced by lawless violence, lived on. For decades, our nation’s democracy suffered accordingly. It took another courageous struggle to eliminate segregation and ultimately break racism’s hold over American institutions and Americans themselves.
In this struggle, the forces of light achieved victory over darkness through nonviolence. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, soon to be elected president, told his audience to “have faith that right makes might.” It took more than a century, but that faith was rewarded by passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Of course, the battle is not yet over. However, we have learned what is necessary to emerge victorious. Through his actions, Dr. King became our teacher. His leadership continues to offer important lessons for today.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
The battle for a better America belongs to all of us. Dr. King never acted alone. He always worked with others. Often that meant organizing those who supported his goals, like in the famous march in Selma. He also stood with other people in their battles. Indeed, he literally died doing so, having gone to Memphis, where he was assassinated, to support striking sanitation workers.
There are no quick fixes. At enormous human cost, the Civil Rights Movement transformed the nation — a century after the Civil War formally ended slavery. Yet nearly six decades later we continue to fall short of achieving racial justice. Political peace is proving equally hard to find. The 2024 campaign threatens to be particularly ugly.
Justice requires action, but as Dr. King insisted, being militant is not the same as being mean. Our ultimate aim is to transform our opponents, to help them understand why it is important to find a common ground. We are still God’s children and should act as such. That is the only sure path to ultimate victory.
Humility is vital. Dr. King understood his limitations. He set his objectives accordingly. But he dreamed of far more. And his aspirations animate us today. Indeed, they have become our objectives, since so much more is both necessary and possible.
We must think and act strategically. The great athlete Jesse Owens showed the way at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Snubbed by Adolf Hitler after he won his race, Owens simply ignored the German dictator and went on winning three more gold medals. We saw similar behavior from Dr. King. His principle was simple: don’t get mad, get smart. He never veered from pursuing his vision of America as a society both equal and just, employing whatever tactics were most likely to achieve that end.
Courage is essential. Dr. King and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement confronted threats to their lives daily. He accepted that his life was forfeit and used humor to defuse the pressure. The risks today are fewer, but serious trials remain. During another tumultuous time Thomas Paine reminded us: “the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.”
Finally, it is essential to lay the moral foundation for political activism. White supremacy is a moral insecurity. It must be defeated by a wholesome alternative. The best antidote is the philosophy advanced by Dr. King and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. They emphasized our shared humanity. We are all God’s children; he made all the nations of the world one blood.
This common moral heritage transcends our differences and was the basis of the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence insisted on respect for our unalienable, God-given rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Yet before making that claim, the Founders insisted that “all men are created equal.” Dr. King based his ministry — which treated the entire nation as his congregation — on this great moral principle. He lived, and tragically died, calling America to live up to the values that it proclaimed around the world.
The nation’s deep divisions reflect profound moral conflicts, making it essential to keep Dr. King’s vision alive today. It is especially important to bring his message to young people who know little if anything about the civil rights struggle that he led and so many other Americans waged. Rising generations need to hear and live Dr. King’s unifying, transcendent vision. In that way, today’s young can emulate his leadership — and the life of service and sacrifice that path entails.
Toward this end, I am supporting an educational initiative and scholarship program to advance Dr. King’s unifying principles and raise up a new generation devoted to nonviolent change. This includes new “Share the Dream” curricula for churches.
Given the origin of the civil rights movement in the faith community, it is important to once again encourage people of faith to help lead America out of the darkness and into the light of the principles for which Dr. King sacrificed his life.
America is being tested. To confront this challenge, we need a new generation committed to the liberty, dignity and equality of all. This is why sharing Dr. King’s dream with a new generation today is as important as it was 60 years ago.
Andrew Young has been a mayor of Atlanta and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Dr. Matthew Daniels is a chair of law and human rights at the Institute of World Politics and co-author of the Share the Dream series (www.sharedream.org).
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